Mantras - And Living Them

Volume [Week 16; 4 To Go]
Injury [Week 17; 3 To Go]
Perspective [Week 18; 2 To Go]


I apologize for the overuse of CAPS in this post....but I was in-between crying and screaming as I wrote this :)

Less than two weeks to go till my half Ironman A race...12 days to be exact...and.....I'm injured.....long story short - I woke up one morning and couldn't pick my head up off the pillow.  It was Terrible.  Horrible.  Very Bad.  This happened on a Thursday.  After an emergency visit to the chiropractor and a corrective session of massage therapy I thought maybe - JUST maybe, I would be able to race on Sunday. Yeah - not so much.  But after 6 full days 100% off, and not showing up at the starting line of my scheduled Olympic race, I attempted to start my workouts again. I did attend the race, but as a spectator to cheer on my friends....and I cried on the drive to the race because I couldn't race, but DS and I had a great adventure day and it was a BEAUTIFUL day to watch a race.

Without getting into the specifics of how I eased into my workouts - it simply was hard to not continue to work out.  It was hard to mentally wrap my head around the fact that I wasn't going to be 100% at my A race.  It was hard to watch my fitness fizzle into nothingness as I wallowed in my pain and injury cycle of ice/heat/biofreeze/rest/sorrow.

OMG!!  GIVE ME A BREAK!!!! 

Win the Day / Pain is temporary / Embrace the Suck / If it was easy everyone would do it / Pain is weakness leaving the body / Enter the Pain Cave / Fake the Funk / enter any mantra

During training you have good days and bad days.  During a race it's important to be able to recall both.  The good training sessions remind you that YOU CAN DO THIS!  The bad training sessions remind you that YOU CAN DO THIS!

During training you have set backs; fatigue, injury, vacations where you drink too much- eat too much- and train too little, schedules that make training sessions simply impossible to execute as planned, small humans that seem to take up every minute of your day although you don't know where they went.  How do we react to that adversity?  How do we react to things not being optimal?  How do we react when we can't 'go back' or 'undo' or simply change the state of affairs? 

Well I, apparently, slump down, simply cash in my chips and just want my season to be over....WHAT!?!?!!!  yup, that's how I reacted - sad but true. 

Wait a sec - What was this triathlon season about for me?  Why do I race?  When training for and executing and Ironman Distance Triathlon you have to have at least one thing that you can bring to the forefront of your tired brain as the pain begins to take over your more tired body.  ONE thing that reminds you WHY you are racing.  You WILL come to a point where your mind has to have a conversation with your body and your mind MUST convince your body to overcome.

I came into this triathlon season after having a baby...HAVING A BABY 8 months ago!!!  I will have an 8 1/2 month old son at the finish line of my half ironman triathlon race in 12 days.  How frickin cool is that?  My goal at the beginning of the season was simply to show up at the start line of my scheduled races.  I told myself, and my family, that if I got to the bike and couldn't do it - at least I showed up.  If I got to the run and couldn't do it - at least I showed up.  If I had to walk the entire run - at least I showed up.  Even the race I was legitimately injured for, I showed up in support of my fellow triathletes.  My goal at the beginning of the season was to lose a pound a week until race day.  Well that was pretty impossible when I actually did the math, but I did lose 30 lbs in 30 weeks after 6 weeks post partum - and at the moment I'm stuck - at a pretty great weight.  That's AWESOME!!

What in the world am I moping around about?  What is my one thing?  Why do I race?

I race because I am able.  I race because there are those who can't.  I have people in my life that would LOVE to be able to train for a triathlon.  It never fails during a long run that I think of the people I love in my life that can't, for whatever reason, swim, bike, run.  At All.  During every race, I mean every race, (there's even video proof in my IM of me telling folks to call her and tell her that I love her) I think of the person who inspires me the most.  A person who would love to be out of breath with me on that run.  A person who would love to have the ability to start a swim with 2800 other people at the same time.  A person who would love to be chaffed from too much activity.  A person who has undergone many more physically painful situations then I - and I think of that every time I feel like I'm hurting on my run.   A person who gets me choked up thinking about how much she inspires me to be a better woman and mother every day.  You know who you are -  And I love you.  Many people tell me that I inspire them because I do triathlons or because I did an Ironman.  Which is great - don't get me wrong.  But My inspiration?  An amazing mom, wife, sister, daughter who (Even though she doesn't feel like it probably) tackles each day with vengeance - and has many reasons she could use to just cave in.  A woman so strong in her faith she could build a mansion on it.  An amazing couple who is trying to put the pieces of their life back together from an accident.  Trying every day to be thankful, while still struggling to physically get back to life.  An Incredible teenager (who I still think might just do a triathlon one day - he did actually cross the finish line of one once) who is trying to be his best every day, and overcome each challenge as it faces him.  An amazing infant who lived inside me for 10 months and came out of my hoo-haa (a feat I'm still quite amazed about when I look at him) and learns more and more every day.

YOU INSPIRE ME - and I race in your place - in 12 days.  You will be ever present on my mind and reminding me that I will show up and I will give it my best - that day and every day after.